A new lease of life

Karen Neville

Posted on

Round and About

Second Hand September, upcycling furniture and repair cafes are all fabulous ways to fall in love again with something you once cherished, not only will it save you money but you’ll be doing your bit to help save the planet too!

How often have you bought something (often on impulse) got it back home only for it to loiter in the back of your wardrobe unworn for years? It’s probably something we’ve all been guilty of at one time, so this month rather than a) buy it all or b) leave it lurking unloved, why not get involved in Second Hand September?

The Oxfam run project has been going since 2019 inspiring people to shop in a way that is kinder to the planet and with the recent record temperatures much of Europe has been experiencing it’s only too easy to see the effect of climate change.

In September 2022 more than 26,000 people only bought second hand during the campaign and as one shopper remarked when the initiative launched “I didn’t buy any new clothes for 30 days. Then it became two months and now it’s been nearly four years!”

By buying, wearing and donating second hand clothes you’re helping to reduce the demand for new and thus helping to reduce the damage to the planet. Did you know an estimated 16.2kg of CO2 is emitted for every pair of jeans made, that’s the same as driving around 58 miles in a car.

And it doesn’t just stop with clothing, Oxfam shops and online offer an extensive range of homewares, books and toys too. There are stores aplenty all over, visit Find your local Oxfam Shop to find your nearest one and get donating and buying pre-loved now.

The wonderfully named Absolutely Mintage is the home of upcycled furniture in Bracknell where owner Julia fuses modern and vintage furniture to help keep your traditional home furnishings by turning them into something beautifully decorative and current.

She fell in love with painting furniture as a result of a home renovation in 2015 but adds that while she loves this, “I also have a healthy respect for the craftsmanship of vintage and antique furniture due to the beauty of the wood and the design. Sometimes it is better to showcase the wood and its grain with sanding and oiling or staining, so I spend time assessing each piece I am thinking about painting.”

“As time goes on, my horror of the amount of material waste that goes into landfill increases,” Julia explains. “I have seen perfectly good furniture discarded as it no longer ‘fits’ with a person’s decor and yet through refreshing a piece, it looks as good as new! My motto is very much ‘don’t throw it away!’. Upcycling has allowed me to embrace my passion and explore the limitless number of options there are to create unique finishes while still being able to enjoy the beautiful designs and workmanship of antique furniture.”

If you’re looking for inspiration to revive a much-loved piece of your own, Julia also runs workshops in upcycling, decoupage and furniture painting. Check out her website for more at Upcycled furniture – Absolutely Mintage.

A love of old things, balancing elegance with rustic finishes and authentic materials is the basis of White Door Antiques, founded by Pangbourne antique dealer Elise Harris. Her brocante events bring the affordable style of a French brocante to the countryside with a beautiful array of antique and vintage dealers from all over the country. Look out for future events at White Door Brocante.

Pretty much anything can be recycled, upcycled or repaired and if you need a little help then head to a repair café. The free meeting places invite you to repair your toaster or other appliance, a bike or piece of furniture and just about any items you can think of! They’ll provide all the tools and materials you need there’s expert help on hand to assist you. Repair cafés aim to bring about a shift away from consumerism and viewing household items as disposable.

“If it’s broken, bring it along and we are sure to have a go or at least provide some advice about what your best course of action might be.” So say Reading Repair Café who also invite you to come along with repairs you want to do yourself or craft projects you’re working on. The event is run entirely by volunteers and anyone can pop in! As well as repairs, you can pop in for a cuppa and homemade cake. Everything is free, but donations are encouraged to ensure the cafe can keep running.

Their next meetings are: Sept 17th – The Greyfriar, Reading; Oct 15th – RISC, London Street; Nov 19th – rLab Reading Hackspace, Weldale Street.

The helpful folk at Hungerford Repair Café have recently fixed a toy boat, a winter coat with a torn seam and a blocked soda stream. They want to help the community learn how to repair their broken things in an enjoyable and sociable setting. Volunteers are able to either help mend or advise the owners about how to fix or obtain spare parts, regularly saving about 50kg of waste going into landfill or other recycling facilities. They next meet at The Croft on September 16th and November 18th.

To find a repair cafe near you go to repaircafe.org/en/visit/

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A new lease of life

Karen Neville

Posted on

Round and About

Second Hand September, upcycling furniture and repair cafes are all fabulous ways to fall in love again with something you once cherished, not only will it save you money but you’ll be doing your bit to help save the planet too!

How often have you bought something (often on impulse) got it back home only for it to loiter in the back of your wardrobe unworn for years? It’s probably something we’ve all been guilty of at one time, so this month rather than a) buy it at all or b) leave it lurking unloved, why not get involved in Second Hand September?

The Oxfam run project has been going since 2019 inspiring people to shop in a way that is kinder to the planet and with the recent record temperatures much of Europe has been experiencing it’s only too easy to see the effect of climate change.

In September 2022 more than 26,000 people only bought second hand during the campaign and as one shopper remarked when the initiative launched “I didn’t buy any new clothes for 30 days. Then it became two months and now it’s been nearly four years!”

By buying, wearing and donating second hand clothes you’re helping to reduce the demand for new and thus helping to reduce the damage to the planet. Did you know an estimated 16.2kg of CO2 is emitted for every pair of jeans made, that’s the same as driving around 58 miles in a car.

And it doesn’t just stop with clothing, Oxfam shops and online offer an extensive range of homewares, books and toys too. There are stores aplenty all over, visit oxfam.org.uk/shops/ to find your nearest one and get donating and buying pre-loved now.

Got clothes you don’t want anymore or just don’t know how to make the most of them, don’t throw them away, help is at hand from Oxfordshire’s Lucy Briggs who combines a love of clothes with her passion for sustainability. She advises being ruthless with your wardrobe, divide your clothes into three piles – keep, maybe and nope.

The “nope” pile is key. Lucy says: “It’s OK to let go. Give it a new home where someone else can love it. Moving our clothes on responsibly takes more effort but dramatically lowers their carbon footprint. Gift to friends and family, attend a clothes swap, donate to charity shops, resell or upcycle.”

Clothes swapping or swishing is a fun, budget-friendly and sustainable way to update your wardrobe, as Lucy says: “The concept is simple – bring the clothes you don’t want and swap them for new ones!” Swishing events are becoming more commonplace – you never know what gems you could unearth. Visit her website at Sustainably Styled.

You can also do your bit for the environment by upcycling and repairing and buying vintage. The Shed in Abingdon offers a hive of treasures, Owner Siobhan Sargeant has always fostered a ‘make do and mend culture’, saying: “The idea behind The Shed was to do my bit for mother nature, zero landfill, an eco-sustainable shop, with eclectic one-off finds, past treasures, make do and mend culture, passing on my ideas.

“I love looking for stock at flea markets, a good rummage is the best feeling ever, the rustier the better, more damage, scratches, layers of paint is a bonus.”

And once she’s hunted down her prey, it’s then the work starts to restore that piece of furniture, ensuring the wood retains as much of its character as possible, sanded back and waxed or painted. Visit her shop in Stert Street, Abingdon and unearth a gem of your own.

Oxford’s Annie Sloan is revolutionising the world of paint and with it how we look at our furniture. Her Chalk Paint is the epitome of upcycling with a palette of gorgeous colours to suit any colour scheme and home you can transform something that may have seen better days into a stylish piece that looks like new and you’ll be saving money too. It couldn’t be simpler to use with in most cases no sanding or prep required and can be used to paint wood, metal, melamine and flooring. It can be used to dye fabric, and is so versatile it can even be used to paint glass!

Visit her website for oodles of ideas, tips and techniques and to see the gorgeous array of colours, there’s sure to be one to revive that chair. More at anniesloan.com

Pretty much anything can be recycled, upcycled or repaired and if you need a little help then head to a repair café. Repair cafés are free meeting places where you can repair your toaster or other electrical appliance, a bike or piece of furniture and just about any item you can think of! They’ll provide all the tools and materials you need and there’s expert help on hand to assist you.

Repair Cafés welcome everyone, if you have nothing to repair you can visit and enjoy some cake or tea or lend a hand with someone else’s repair job. The purpose of the events is to bring about a shift away from consumerism and viewing household items as disposable. The focus is on skill-sharing and building community, as attendees will be invited to learn how to fix their broken item alongside the repairers instead of throwing them in the bin.

Volunteer run, there is a network of more than 100 groups across Oxfordshire. Find your nearest one at repaircafeoxfordshire.org

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A new lease of life

Karen Neville

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Round and About

Second Hand September, upcycling furniture and repair cafes are all fabulous ways to fall in love again with something you once cherished, not only will it save you money but you’ll be doing your bit to help save the planet too!

How often have you bought something (often on impulse) got it back home only for it to loiter in the back of your wardrobe unworn for years? It’s probably something we’ve all been guilty of at one time, so this month rather than a) buy it at all or b) leave it lurking unloved, why not get involved in Second Hand September?

The Oxfam run project has been going since 2019 inspiring people to shop in a way that is kinder to the planet and with the recent record temperatures much of Europe has been experiencing it’s only too easy to see the effect of climate change.

In September 2022 more than 26,000 people only bought second hand during the campaign and as one shopper remarked when the initiative launched “I didn’t buy any new clothes for 30 days. Then it became two months and now it’s been nearly four years!”

By buying, wearing and donating second hand clothes you’re helping to reduce the demand for new and thus helping to reduce the damage to the planet. Did you know an estimated 16.2kg of CO2 is emitted for every pair of jeans made, that’s the same as driving around 58 miles in a car.

And it doesn’t just stop with clothing, Oxfam shops and online offer an extensive range of homewares, books and toys too. There are stores aplenty all over, visit oxfam.org.uk/shops/ to find your nearest one and get donating and buying pre-loved now.

Once you’ve revamped your wardrobe, how about revamping your wardrobe itself, by giving that piece of furniture a new look rather than just consigning it to the tip.

That’s exactly what Gillian does at GP Restorations in Newbury. She wants to reuse, recycle and repurpose your treasured possessions. Unwilling to see any well-made item to go to waste or neglect, she will help you through all the possibilities for future use, from repainting to redesigning. It is, Gillian says, this “up-cycling” process that helps extend the useful life of all styles and ages of furniture and is a great way to ensure their continued use in the home. Check out her website to see examples of just some of the restoration projects she has taken on, lovingly reviving your treasures; visit gp-restorations.co.uk/

A rather old and dilapidated tall boy sparked Claire’s passion for all things wood which she is now passing on with upcycling and recycling courses at the Old Dairy, Parsonage Farm, Collingbourne Kingston, just outside Marlborough. The tall boy had stood unloved at the back of a garage for 10 years when Claire decided to transform it and show it some love afresh. Delightfully, the piece now takes pride of place in her bedroom. She says: “I find pieces all over the place, from charity shops, private sales, auctions and sometimes even pieces left by the road side with ‘free to take away’ signs on.” Claire holds beginners classes, workshops and master classes throughout the year and also designs special courses to suit craft groups, schools, and elders. Find out more at wgwoollies.co.uk/furniture-upcycling-1

The delightfully eclectic and delightfully named The Cat’s Whiskers is two floors of decorative and vintage goodies for the home and garden, together with unusual gifts in Marlborough’s High Street. A charming little courtyard is crammed with treats for your garden. Specialising in the quirky, expect to find everything from vintage kitchen paraphernalia to antique fire extinguishers and French enamelware. They are they say “inveterate recyclers”, who are ingenious in finding new uses for items others would dispose of. Pop in and see what you can find.

Pretty much anything can be recycled, upcycled or repaired and if you need a little help then head to a repair café. Repair Cafés are free meeting places where you can repair your toaster or other electrical appliance, a bike or piece of furniture and just about any item you can think of! They’ll provide all the tools and materials you need and there’s expert help on hand to assist you.

Repair Cafés welcome everyone, if you have nothing to repair you can visit and enjoy some cake or tea or lend a hand with someone else’s repair job. The purpose of the events is to bring about a shift away from consumerism and viewing household items as disposable. The focus is on skill-sharing and building community, as attendees will be invited to learn how to fix their broken item alongside the repairers instead of throwing them in the bin.

The helpful folk at Hungerford Repair Café have recently fixed a toy boat, a winter coat with a torn seam and a blocked soda stream. They want to help the community learn how to repair their broken things in an enjoyable and sociable setting. Volunteers are able to either help mend or advise the owners about how to fix or obtain spare parts, regularly saving about 50kg of waste going into landfill or other recycling facilities. They next meet at The Croft on September 16th and November 18th.

To find a repair cafe near you please visit repaircafe.org/en/visit/

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A new lease of life

Karen Neville

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Round and About

Second Hand September, upcycling furniture and repair cafes are all fabulous ways to fall in love again with something you once cherished, not only will it save you money but you’ll be doing your bit to help save the planet too!

How often have you bought something (often on impulse) got it back home only for it to loiter in the back of your wardrobe unworn for years? It’s probably something we’ve all been guilty of at one time, so this month rather than a) buy it at all or b) leave it lurking unloved, why not get involved in Second Hand September?

The Oxfam run project has been going since 2019 inspiring people to shop in a way that is kinder to the planet and with the recent record temperatures much of Europe has been experiencing it’s only too easy to see the effect of climate change.

In September 2022 more than 26,000 people only bought second hand during the campaign and as one shopper remarked when the initiative launched “I didn’t buy any new clothes for 30 days. Then it became two months and now it’s been nearly four years!”

By buying, wearing and donating second hand clothes you’re helping to reduce the demand for new and thus helping to reduce the damage to the planet. An estimated 16.2kg of CO2 is emitted for every pair of jeans made, that’s the same as driving around 58 miles in a car.

And it doesn’t just stop with clothing, Oxfam shops and online offer an extensive range of homewares, books and toys too. There are stores all over, visit oxfam.org.uk/shops/ to find your nearest one and get donating and buying pre-loved now.

You can also do your bit for the environment by upcycling furniture, just because that chest of drawers has seen better days don’t consign it to landfill, show it some TLC and revamp it.

Passion for preloved and recycled furniture led to Jane Goodman setting up Home Office Chic in 2017 in Horsell. Initally focussing on creating upcycled furniture for home offices, she came up with the idea of rejuvenating old bureaus, chairs and other work-related pieces which came into its own during lockdown with more people home working. As Jane says: “Home workers often do not have a dedicated office and artisan recycled bureaus and reupholstered chairs add individuality – you can make a desk area as plain or funky as you choose; as well as being more sustainable.

“Since the early days the business has been about sustainability – helping people to save furniture from landfill, so commissions range from anything from a shoe cupboard to a six-foot dresser!”

Want to give it a go yourself? Join one of Jane’s workshops and you’ll get tips and advice on how to transform a piece of your own taken along on the day and there’s cake and refreshments too. The next workshops run on September 24th, October 22nd and November 12th. Find out more and book your place at homeofficechic.co.uk/workshops-2/

The Upholstery Yard near Blackmore has been helping clients to give a new lease of life to their furniture for two years now under the expert tuition of Georgina. Classes cater for mixed abilities and are run in a friendly environment with Georgina on hand to provide guidance, encouragement and tea. She says: “These days customers who use our upholstery and recovering services are keen to refresh or upcycle sofas, chairs and headboards that might once have ended up in landfill. We aim to make them comfy and stylish again giving them – and often their owners too – a whole new lease of life!”

The Upholstery Yard’s new autumn term of furniture upholstery classes starts at the beginning of September. Designed for beginners or those with some past experience, the classes are small and friendly and take place in a workshop near Blackmoor in the Hampshire countryside. Find full details at theupholsteryyard.co.uk

Making something out of nothing has always been the passion of Paula at Maisy Gray based at Langham Stables in Lodsworth. “Restyled vintage furniture is unique with its own imperfections, character and individuality,” she explains. “I have always been one for recycling and I have been upcycling and refinishing old furniture for some time now, it’s all about sustainability. I just hate to see good quality furniture tossed into the dump or landfill. We seem to have adopted a throw away culture.”

If you have a piece of furniture you’d like to fall in love with again visit maisygray.co.uk to see what Paula can do for you.

Pretty much anything can be recycled, upcycled or repaired and if it’s not your forte then head to a repair café. There you’ll find helpful folk who can turn their hand to just about anything with the help of an array of tools. Repair Cafés are free meeting places where you can repair your toaster or other appliance, a bike or piece of furniture and just about any item you can think of! They’ll provide all the tools and materials you need and there’s expert help on hand to assist you.

The Guildford Repair café is at The Hive, Park Barn Drive where they meet from 10am to midday one Saturday a month, the next dates for your diary are September 9th and October 14th – start going through your cupboards and get repairing! Follow their ethos: “As a society we throw away vast amounts of stuff. Even things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair. The trouble is, lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they no longer know how. Repair Cafés can change all that.”

Part of a worldwide movement started in 2007, there are cafes all around, visit repaircafe.org/en/visit/ to find your nearest.

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Continue learning as an adult

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Oxford University offers short and part-time courses for adult learners, in person and online

Start of further your learning journey at any time of life with Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education. You’ll join a highly diverse and vibrant learning community embedded in a world-class university, formed of students of all ages, from all backgrounds and from all over the world.

Courses designed for you

Explore the curious, mysterious or perplexing! Whether you wish to learn for personal interest or professional development, have previous experience or are a complete beginner, we have a course for you.

“Explore the curious, mysterious or perplexing!”

Short courses include day schools, weekend events and weekly learning programmes and run in person or online, with some offered in both formats so you can choose how to join. Part-time undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are delivered in a range of formats including mostly or fully online, blending learning (a mix of online and in-person) or through regular in-person meetings.

Our courses are all designed for adult learners and are offered in subject areas including creative writing, literature, history, philosophy, technology, sustainability, economics, languages and more.

Learn from experts in their field

Learn, explore and debate with our highly skilled tutors and expert speakers, who all have a deep passion for their subject and a depth of knowledge in their field.

Many of our tutors and speakers are working professionals, providing real-time practical insight and case studies, others are world-renowned for their research and contribution to developing knowledge and improvements in a particular area.

photo (c) John Cairns

Celebrating 145 years of adult learning

This year, Oxford Continuing Education will celebrate its 145th anniversary. Since our inception in 1878, the Department has offered a unique route into an Oxford education for adult learners. What we share with the rest of the University is a commitment to excellence, to supporting every student to learn and grow, and to nurturing intellectual curiosity and self-confidence.

Visit Oxford University Department for Continuing Education or scan the QR code.

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Making maths count with Countdown star

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Junaid Mubeen from Oxfordshire is a mathematician turned educator, who is also a series winner of Countdown, and expert advisor to non-profit children’s free online game Teach Your Monster Number Skills. He shares some tips to make numbers add up to fun

For adults and children alike, maths can sometimes be daunting. Yet when explored the right way, the subject can be fun and accessible for everyone.

The key is to embed strong foundations from a young age. The skills and confidence that we acquire as children can have a lasting, positive impact on our relationship with mathematics. A good command of numbers depends far less on rote learning the times tables and far more on exploring their patterns and structure. Numbers are all around us, and so too are opportunities to interact with them in a playful way.

Here are some quick, easy and playful tips on how to develop children’s core number skills such as arithmetic, estimation and comparison, without any of the dread. They’ll have so much fun they won’t even realise they are learning!

At the shops: Shops are a playground for numbers. Compare the cost of different brands of the same item: which is cheaper? Grab a bag of apples and a bag of carrots – which one feels the heaviest?

“Shops are a playground for numbers.”

At dinner time: From the prep, to the cooking, eating and clearing away, numbers are entwined into all aspects of mealtimes. Ask your child how long they think it will take to cook dinner. Or how much cutlery is needed. Or who can look forward to the most items of food on their plate.

On a day trip: Whether on foot, wheels or public transport, a trip out is an opportunity to search for numbers. Are there more cars or lorries? What numbers can you spot on the licence plates? How many people, roughly, are travelling on the train?

At the park: A playground is an oasis of numbers! Count how many steps it takes to climb up to the top of the play structure. Now make the climb – how close was the prediction? Are they tired as a result of underestimating or raring to go for more?

Tidy up time: For the ultimate win-win, get kids involved in the household chores. How many pairs of socks can they match from the clean washing pile? How many items can they pick up off the floor? Can they arrange the collected items in size order? How long does it take to put them all away?

Free digital games: There are many learning apps – try the free online game Teach Your Monster Number Skills for 3+ year olds. Set in a maths theme park, with friendly monsters roaming around, it has multiple activities that bring each number to life through puzzles and activities. There are eight mini maths games, each with 10 levels. The game is so effective at boosting kids’ confidence with numbers and at making maths fun. My daughter loves it!

Visit Teach Your Monster Number Skills.

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Fees & finance

Karen Neville

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Many independent schools offer financial assistance to pupils through bursaries and scholarships, but what do they mean and how can they help?

I was lucky enough to benefit from a bursary enabling me to attend a local independent school, albeit more years ago now than I would care to remember, and to this day I am grateful for that opportunity, writes Karen Neville

A bursary is a grant awarded to a pupil enabling them to study at a fee-paying school which may not otherwise be possible. Independent schools offer means-tested fee assistance widening the access for families from all walks of life.

For many children the opportunities they enjoy in these schools is transformational – the smaller class sizes were definitely one of the aspects I benefitted from. Means-tested bursaries and scholarships currently account for around £480million of support per year. A third of all pupils educated by Independent Schools Council members receive fee assistance.

To quality for a bursary a parent or guardian will need to complete a financial assessment to establish whether the child meets the criteria, this is then usually re-assessed each year the bursary is required. It’s also worth noting that schools may look at other assets a family had and assess outgoings such as holidays, as-well as taking into account other financial commitments including the number of other children or dependents.

Some schools also have access to funds to help with the costs of uniform, books and trips too.

Scholarships are a form of financial aid for pupils who are gifted either academically, in music or sport and rather than being means-tested are based on the child’s abilities. They are often highly competitive with only a limited number being offered each year. It is possible to apply for both a bursary and a scholarship and the amount offered will vary from school to school.

If you are considering independent school education for your child and are likely to need some sort of financial assistance. It’s always worthwhile looking into the options sooner rather than later as places are highly contested and limited.

The most important consideration is your child – is an independent school education the right path? Don’t pressure them to go if they really don’t want to, settling into a new school without families faces of friends who may be going to other local schools, can be hard. There will also be entrance exams and interviews to negotiate, not every child’s cup of tea.

Details of fee assistance schemes can be found on individual school’s websites and the admissions office can always help further. The Good Schools Guide and Independent Schools Council also offer advice and help to find the right school for your child.

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Foodies Festival returns to Oxford

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The UK’s biggest touring celebrity food and music festival series returns to Oxford for a huge August Bank Holiday weekend from 26th – 28th August

Featuring a line-up of celebrity chefs and chart-topping music starts, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Scouting For Girls and Martin Kemp.

Known as Gastro-Glastonbury, Foodies Festival will take place at South Park across the August Bank Holiday weekend. The three-day event features live cooking demonstrations from TV chefs, stars of MasterChef and Great British Menu, plus top-rated Michelin-starred and award-winning chefs.

Star names appearing in the live cooking theatres include: MasterChef 2023 champion, Chariya Khattiyot, MasterChef: The Professionals champion, Alex Webb, MasterChef champion, Dhruv Baker, Great British Menu 2023 finalist, Avinash Shashidhara, MasterChef finalist, Madeeha Qureshi. Great British Menu and Michelin starred chef-patron, Paul Welburn, from the Swan Inn and Cygnet restaurant. Islip, stars of Channel 4’s Extreme Cake Makers and founders of Black Box Cake, Christine and Phil Jensen, Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch bread expert, Jack Sturgess, celebrity TV chef, Omar Allibhoy and TV chef, award-winning author and British Empire Medal awarded, Manju Malhi.

The musical feast is just as sumptuous with chart-topping diva, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, platinum-selling festival favourites Scouting For Girls, and Spandau Ballet and Eastenders icon Martin Kemp, delivering the ultimate 80’s DJ party.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor said: “It’s wonderful to be joining the Foodies Festival tour again. Warm summer weekends full of lovely food and music, and families having fun together – I can’t wait!”

Throughout the 3-day holiday weekend, visitors will enjoy a jam-packed schedule of TV cooking show champions and award-winning chefs in the interactive live theatres. In the Chefs Theatre, celebrities will create their signature dishes and share new tips and tricks, whilst in the Cake & Bake Theatre, star bakers whip up showstoppers and offer tempting sweet treats.

Visitors can browse the latest food trends in the Shopping Village, meet local producers in the Artisan Market and taste exotic and unusual new dishes in the Feasting Tent – which features a mouth-watering range of street food and delicacies from all four corners of the globe.

Other attractions include the League of Fire’s Oxford title belt chilli eating competition featuring the World champion, ‘Chilli Queen’, Shahina Waseem, fairground, children’s activities, and family-friendly areas.

Tickets on sale now. Day tickets from: Under 6 go free, £3 (child), and £19 (adult). Weekend tickets from £38 (3-day). Home – Foodies Festival.

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Freezecakes frozen cheesecake summer highlight

Liz Nicholls

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Surrey-based Pleese invite you to tuck into a taste of summer with the world’s first frozen cheesecake in a tub

It looks as though summer is going to make another fleeting appearance, so it’s the perfect time to stock up the freezer with sweet treats.

“It’s not ice cream!” screams the lid of Freezecakes which is now available nationwide across Co-op and Waitrose stores. And if you’re looking for a creamier alternative to gelato, the Surrey-based Pleese team have three delumptious soft-serve flavours to tempt you.

I was lucky enough to have a houseful of teenagers to taste the new range, and the scoopy specials won brownie points for being palm oil free (an essential if you love orangutans as much as we do) and made of more than 35% cream cheese.

It was a three-way tie between Butterscotch & Caramel (£5, 350g) with crunchy chocolate biscuit pieces coated in chocolate, Lemon & Raspberry (£5, 350g) (pockets of juicy raspberry sauce and biscuit pieces coated in white chocolate, topped with freeze dried raspberry pieces) and (my personal fave) Double Chocolate (£5, 350g) with those crunchy chocolate biscuit pieces coated in chocolate, topped with chocolate flakes.

If you fancy going down a dessert rabbithole, hop on to the @Pleese (previously Pleesecakes) and @freezecakes Insta page to enjoy mesmerising short videos and recipe shorts, as loved by Joe Wicks, Olly Murs and Holly Willoughby…

If you fancy going down a dessert rabbithole, hop on to the @Pleese (previously Pleesecakes) and @freezecakes Insta page to enjoy mesmerising short videos and recipe shorts, as loved by Joe Wicks, Olly Murs and Holly Willoughby…

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Stellar set of A level results

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St Helen and St Katharine celebrates students’ success with this year’s A level results exceeding broadcast predictions

St Helen and St Katharine students have performed brilliantly in a range of subjects with 70.9% of all grades being A* or A.

Particularly impressive grades were gained in maths, history, geography, drama and politics, as well as the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) which, once again, enjoyed stellar success – and continues to be recognised favourably by HE institutions.

Headmistress Rebecca Dougall said: “It has been a great morning of celebration and we are all so proud of the students who have done brilliantly in what have been their first public exams. We always say that there is no typical HelKat: our job is to support students to identify and develop their own strengths, so we are happily celebrating with students today who are off to study subjects as varied as Classics, Medicine, Politics and International Relations, Economics, Law, Music, Maths, Drama and Fashion Design Innovation. The universities they are joining are fortunate to be working with such a talented cohort of students.”

One such talent is Anna who is Oxford-bound to read History and Spanish with her 4 A*s and a letter from the exam board commending her as one of the highest-achieving English Literature students in the country, or Pippa who will be heading to the USA to take up a place at the University of California, Berkeley, her 3 A*s a fitting reward for her academic success and all the more impressive given her prowess in and commitment to rowing.

St Helen’s is encouraged to see its students bucking the national trend in their success in modern languages A levels and in choosing to study them at university. STEM remains very strong with students headed to Cambridge to read Natural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine. Medicine remains popular and successful with five students gaining places at medical school. One of those is Georgina who, with her 3 A*s, is heading to Queen’s University Belfast. Her parents, Adele and Graham said: “We are delighted that Georgina has achieved her dream of studying medicine and we are thankful to St Helen’s for the fantastic support in achieving this dream. Throughout her time here we have had an overarching confidence in the competence of the school and that all bases were always covered.”

Five students are embarking on Art Foundation. Edie, who achieved 4 A*s in Art, Biology, Psychology and in her EPQ, is heading to Kingston University. Her mum, Emma, reflected on her journey through St Helen’s: “From the moment Edie started in Year 5 she discovered that she loves so many things and was good at many things. This is what St Helen’s is brilliant at – nurturing each individual student to find her passions.”

Olivia has gained a place to study Music at University of Manchester. Her mum, Anne, said: “St Helen’s is a happy place. Both of my daughters have flourished here and enjoyed taking part in all the music, drama and sport opportunities. We have particularly enjoyed the extremely professional shows – the music and drama teachers put so much work in to these.”

St Helen and St Katharine has recently opened its brand new Sixth Form Centre, the brand new Sixth Form Centre, the Benedict Building, dedicated to providing students with the space and opportunity to grow their academic and extracurricular interests in readiness for their future. With nine new classrooms, a range of study spaces, a common room, a café and a flexible lectures/ performance hall, the building echoes the very best in higher education intuitions.

For information, go to the St Helen and St Katharine website (shsk.org.uk)

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